In Islamtaqiyya تقية (alternative spellings taqiyeh,taqiya, taqiyah, tuqyah) is a form of religious dissimulation,[1] or a legal dispensation whereby a believing individual can deny his faith or commit otherwise illegal or blasphemous acts while they are at risk of significant persecution.[2]

This practice was emphasized in Shi'a Islam whereby adherents may conceal their religion when they are under threat, persecution, or compulsion.[3] Taqiyya was developed to protect Shi'ites who were usually in minority and under pressure. In the Shi'a view, taqiyya is lawful in situations where there is overwhelming danger of loss of life or property and where no danger to religion would occur thereby.[1]

The term taqiyya does not exist in Sunni jurisprudence. In the Sunni view, denying faith under duress is "only at most permitted and not under all circumstances obligatory".[4] However, there are examples of practicing taqiyya among Sunnis where it was necessary.[5]

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Etymology

The term taqiyya (Arabic: تقیة‎ taqiyyah/taqīyah) (pronounced as tagiye [tæɢiːje] by speakers of Persian) is derived from the Arabictriliteral rootwaw-qaf-ya, denoting "piety, devotion, uprightness, and godliness, and it means the brightest star".[6] In Arabic taqiyya literally means caution, but came to be used as a technical term by some jurists meaning dissimulation.[2]Kitman is used synonymously and means concealment.[7]

Origin

The practice of concealing one's beliefs in dangerous circumstances originates in the Qur'an, which deems blameless those who disguise their beliefs in such cases.[8] The practice of taqiyya in difficult circumstances is considered legitimate by Muslims of various sects. Sunni and Shi'a commentators alike observe that verse 16:106 refers to the case of 'Ammar b. Yasir, who was forced to renounce his beliefs under physical duress and torture.[9]

Shi'a Islam view

Twelver Shi'a view

The doctrine of taqiyya was developed at the time of Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 148 AH/765 AD), the sixth Imamiya Imam. It served to protect Shi'ites when Al-Mansur, the Abbasid caliph, conducted a brutal and oppressive campaign against Alids and their supporters.[1] Religious dissimulation or Taqiyya while maintaining mental reservation is considered lawful in Shi'ism "in situations where there is overwhelming danger of loss of life or property and where no danger to religion would occur thereby". Shi'is lived mostly as a minority among a frequently-hostile Sunni majority- until the rise of Safavid dynasty. This condition made taqiyya doctrine important to Shi'is.[1]

Taqiyya holds a central place in Twelver Shi'a Islam. This is sometimes explained by the minority position Shi'ites had under the political dominance of Sunni Muslims, requiring them to protect themselves through concealment and dissimulation. In Shi'a legal literature, there is a range of situations in which taqiyya may be used or even required. For Shi'a Muslims, taqiyya is to conceal their association with their faith when revealing it would result in danger. Taqiyya is done for reasons of safety. For example, a person may fear that he might be killed or harmed if he does not observe taqiyya. In this case, taqiyya is allowed. However, in some circumstances taqiyya may lead to the death of an innocent person; if so, it is not permissible; it is haraam (forbidden) to kill a human being to save one's own life.[12] Some Shi'ites, though, advance taqiyya as a form of jihad, a sort of fighting against their adversaries.[13]

Others relate it to the esoteric nature of early Shi'a Islam. The knowledge (‘Ilm) given to the Imams by God had to be protected and the truth would have to be hidden before the uninitiated or their adversaries until the coming of the Twelfth Imam, when this knowledge and ultimate meaning can become known to everyone.[7][14]

Religious rulings of the Shi'a Imams was also influenced by taqiyya. Without it, basic articles of early Shi'ism do not make sense and lose coherence because of contradictions. Some of the traditions from the Imams make taqiyya a central element of Shi'ism: "He who has no taqiyya has no faith"; "he who forsakes taqiyya is like him who forsakes prayer"; "taqiyya is the believers shield, but for taqiyya, God would not have been worshipped". It is unclear whether those traditions only refer to taqiyya under risk or also taqiyya to conceal the esoteric doctrines of Shi'ism.[15] Many Shi'ites today deny that taqiyya has any significance in their religion.[16]

Ismaili Shi'a view

For the Ismailis in the aftermath of the Mongol onslaught of the Alamut state in 1256 CE, the need to practice taqiyya became necessary, not only for the protection of the community itself, which was now stateless, but also for safeguarding the line of the NizariIsmaili Imamate during this period of unrest.[17] Accordingly, the Shi'a ImamJa'far al-Sadiq stated "Taqiyya is my religion and the religion of my ancestors",[12] a tradition recorded in various sources including Kitāb al-Maḥāsin of Aḥmad b. Muhammad al-Barqī and the Da‘ā’im al-Islām of al-Qāḍī al-Nu‘mān.[18] Such periods in which the Imams are concealed are known as satr, however the term may also refer to times when the Imams were not physically hidden from view but rather when the community was required to practice precautionary dissimulation. During satr the Imam could only be accessed by his community and in extremely dangerous circumstances, would be accessible only to the highest-ranking members of the Ismaili hierarchy (ḥudūd), whose function it was to transmit the teachings of the Imam to the community.

According to Shi'a scholar Muhammad Husain Javari Sabinal, Shi'ism would not have spread at all if not for taqiyya, referring to instances where Shi'a have been ruthlessly persecuted by the Sunni political elite during the Umayyad and Abbasid empires.[19] Indeed for the Ismailis, the persistence and prosperity of the community today owes largely to the careful safeguarding of the beliefs and teachings of the Imams during the Ilkhanate, the Safawid dynasty, and other periods of persecution.

Druze view

Because of the Druze's Ismaili Shi'ite origin, they have also been associated with taqiyya. When the Druze were a minority being persecuted they took the appearance of another religion externally, usually the ruling religion in the area, and for the most part adhered to Muslim customs by this practice.[20]

Sunni Islam view

Over the course of time, the majority Sunni Muslims, who maintained political hegemony in most areas of the Islamic world, rarely found it necessary to hide their beliefs.[5] In the Sunni view, denying your faith under duress is "only at most permitted and not under all circumstances obligatory".[4]Al-Tabari comments on sura XVI, verse 108 (Tafsir, Bulak 1323, xxiv, 122): "If any one is compelled and professes unbelief with his tongue, while his heart contradicts him, in order to escape his enemies, no blame falls on him, because God takes his servants as their hearts believe." This verse was revealed after Ammar Yasir was forced by the idolaters of Mecca to recant his faith and denounce the Islamic prophetMuhammad. Al-Tabari explains that concealing one's faith is only justified if the person is in mortal danger, and even then martyrdom is considered a noble alternative. If threatened, it would be preferable for a Muslim to migrate to a more peaceful place where a person may practice their faith openly, "since God's earth is wide."[4]

No term such as taqiyya is used in Sunni jurisprudence. Protecting one's belief during extreme or exigent circumstances is called idtirar (إضطرار), which translates to "being forced" or "being coerced", and this word is not specific to concealing the faith. Sunnis believe that it is allowed to deny faith under compulsion, threat, or fear of injury, as long as the heart remains firm in faith,[21] but they also greatly disagree with some of the Shi'a's view of Taqiyya. While one is allowed to consume prohibited or haraam food to protect one's life under the jurisprudence of idtirar,[22] some Sunni sources emphasize that a person who prefers to proclaim their faith in the face of death will have a greater reward than they who deny their faith to save their lives. For example, in the Sunni commentary of Sahih al-Bukhari, known as the Fath al-Bari, it is stated that:[23]

There is a consensus that whomsoever is forced into apostasy and chooses death has a greater reward than a person who takes the license [to deny one's faith under duress], but if a person is being forced to eat pork or drink wine, then they should do that [instead of choosing death].

Examples

When Mamun became caliph, he tried to impose his religious views on the status of the Qur'an over all his subjects, in an ordeal called the mihna, or "inquisition". His views were disputed, and many of those who refused to follow his views were imprisoned, tortured, or threatened with the sword.[24] Some Sunni scholars chose to affirm Mamun's view that the Qur'an was created, in spite of their beliefs[5] though a notable exception to this was noted scholar and theologian Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

In 16th century Spain, following the end of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, Muslims and Jews were persecuted by the Catholic Monarchs and forced to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. The principle of taqiyya became very important for Muslims during the Inquisition in sixteenth century Spain, as it allowed them to convert to Christianity while remaining crypto-Muslims, practicing Islam in secret. In 1504, Ubayd Allah al-Wahrani, a Malikimufti in Oran, issued a fatwā allowing Muslims to make extensive use of taqiyya in order to maintain their faith.[2][25][26][27] This is seen as an exceptional case, since Islamic law prohibits conversion except in cases of mortal danger, and even then requires recantation as quickly as possible,[28] and al-Wahrani's reasoning diverged from that of the majority of earlier Maliki Faqīhs.[27]

External links

has a collection of quotations related to: Taqiyya

Encyclopædia Britannica

"al-Taqiyya/Dissimulation" (

The American Muslim

he:שיעה#שלושת יסודות השיעה

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